Casper's Crying Cicadas
by Abyss the Hedgehog
Summary: Casper and Sekai, our two lovebirds, went to Hinamizawa to visit Sekai's relatives. This place, however, still contains many mysteries, even after eliminating the Hinamizawa Syndrome. Post-Matsuribayashi-hen, with few additions.
1. Chapter 1: Bōkenokaishi hen

**Hello again, it's Abyss the Hedeghog(Don't ask, I wasn't myself when thinking about nickname). This time it's Higurashi/School Days crossover, but kept in rather lighthearted way. Do not worry, no kills should ensure... For now. **

**I recommend reading first twelve chapters of "Casper's School Days"(You can find it in School Days archive) in order to be sure what's going on. **

**Other than that, enjoy. :)**

The name's Casper.

I'm a freshman in Sakakino Gakuen, school that had already gained the reputation of at least slightly suspicious. Why? Oh, maybe because the fact that deranged psycho murderer armed with a chainsaw killed at least three people. Two of her friends by pushing the victim from train platform and stabbing the victim with kitchen knife respectively, than some unlucky nurse got in a range of her chainsaw. Now the mentioned murderer is dead.

I know it, since I'm the one who almost died as her fourth victim... It turned out however... That now I'm the murderer.

Oh yeah, by my own hands I necksnapped the psycho. Funny thing, you know? After that I'd got so many nightmares that it's almost impossible to count... But everything went absurdly smooth. Police questioned me, sure, but they easily let me go after just a few general questions...

But I shouldn't think about it. Now, it's summer holiday's time... Now I should enjoy my free time along with my beautiful girlfriend.

Her name is Saionji Sekai. Funny, don't you agree? I'm in love with the "world"... Oh, sorry, I'm airheaded today. Anyway, she has many, many flaws, but so do everyone. There's no thing as "perfect". The only thing that matters is we're in love and we'll do everything for each other... Even if it means some unpleasant consequences.

We're sitting in some rusty bus, going into village called Hinamizawa. I know this place, it's infamous because of "Hinamizawa Syndrome", virus that causes the victim to act paranoid and violent, which later results in suicide by clawing your own throat. Lovely. Thankfully, cure was finally invented and applied cleanly to all infected. Now Hinamizawa is just an another rural village in the middle of nowhere. So, why do we go there? Oh, I've recently found out that Sekai has some relatives there. To add to the funniness, they appear to rule this village along with two others so-called "Grand Families of Hinamizawa", Furudes and Kimiyoshis. I don't remember their surname, but I do believe it was something on "S". Besides this, Hinamizawa used to be named "Onigafuchi", roughly translated to "Demon Village". I do believe it has something to do with Hinamizawa Syndrome... But now it's meaningless.

The bus rides at snail-pace. Sweet Alastor, it's actually even worse then our homely and almost-decayed Ikarus buses and it's quite an achievement. Thankfully, there was a possibility to open a window, because we would boil ourselves here.

Sekai is sleeping, with her head on my chest. Her trademark ahoge was standing around in almost adorable way. Eh, I will never get used to this thing. When asked about its origin, Saionji said something like "I have it since my birth". Is this even possible? I don't care, however, since there is literally no way of cutting that thing off. Gah, forget about it.

Finally, we're at the right place. After waking Sekai up, we're exiting the bus just to find ourselves on little, old-fashioned bus stop. The nearest buildings are pretty far from us, but I do believe a little walk in a sun can be very healthly.

"So, where should we go?" I ask her as she's the person more oriented in local geography. She ponders for a little while, then takes her cellphone.

"Gimme a moment, I call aunt Akane that we're here." She answers with this irritating cheerful smile of hers. There's something both atrocious and wonderful in her expressions... Oh well.

"Do as you will." I respond, sitting on bus stop's bench. It's very quiet here, only birds and occassional cars broke this silence... The air is clear, much healthier than this in city. It makes me feel wonder about everything that happened in the past...

Body of Natsumi Koizumi, still visible. Her eyes are lifeless, her neck - twisted. She looks into me... But I only shrug my arms. I do the right thing and I do believe everybody will agree with me... Though she left the mark, just to keep her remembered. Wide, but shallow scar, going through all of my chest. Got hit by a chainsaw and lived to tell the tale.

But looks like I'm getting carried away once again. Compose yourself, Casper, you're now on holidays.

"Hey, good news!" Sekai says, waking me up from these nightmares. "Mion and Shion are nearby, along with their club. They can pick us up and show us the village."

"Wait, what?" I ask, confused. Sekai laughs lightly.

"Oh, sorry, you don't know about them, do you? My two cousins, twins Mion and Shion, are living here. Mion is a Leader of local Games Club made of... seven members, students in local school. It's actually an interesting case, as there's only one class in the whole school, where kids from twelve to sixteen attend simultaneously."

"I see... So where are they?"

"Gimme a moment, I'll contact with Shion. She should has her cellphone with her." Sekai phones once again, giving me another moment of pondering about various events. Has she ever been here? There is a possibility, but considering her lack of knowledge about local geography, it could had been some time ago.

Given that Hinamizawa doesn't seem to have any characteristical landmarks... Another car passes by. This one is pretty old, I do believe it's some Mitsubishi from 80's. It's driven by some older man that appears to be in his mid or late fifties. He's got a cigarette in his mouth and looks as someone delighted by his life. He's somewhat distinctive, but I cannot tell why's that... I think some refreshing music will be the best solution in order to avoid unnecessary thinking.

_A mind consumed with anger_

_From the womb I was insane_

_I cannot help but hate you now_

_Can't breathe cannot think straight_

_Like a wounded beast I long for your death_

_A vision of you dying is forming in my head_

_I look down on the things you stand for a believe_

_I crave control of subjects_

_I will take you to the final extreme_

_I want to kill you_

_Take away your life_

_In torture as you die_

_I want to kill you_

_Your death I want to feel_

_Create your corpse in murder fantasies_

Oh yeah, tons of hatred and anger are the thing that, I do believe, can allow me to relax. Isn't it ironic? Suddenly, Sekai pokes me.

"Kreator again, huh?" She asks with sly smile. "You really need to listen to some other music.

"I listen to other music." I answer defensively. "Within Temptation, Powerman 5000, Sabaton..."

"All of them are metal bands, you know?" She's certainly amused.

"Also Scatman John." I say with slightly less enthusiasm. She seems surprised.

"Really? No, seriously?" She asks.

"Yeah. Before these four bands, there was this guy. I loved his songs. They were so peaceful, full of life and such... Then, some accidents happened..." I stopped for a short while to look at my left hand, marked with three scars. "And world finally showed its true face. Sometimes, when I'm depressed or something, Scatman's the only thing that can make me at least slightly better... Too bad he's not with us anymore."

"You know, when I was about eight, there was a big boom on his last album, "The Best of Scatman John"." Sekai says after a short while. "I used to listen to it and dance around the room..." She laughs with slight embarassment in her voice. I smile slightly.

"Yeah... Scatman was the man... No, he still is a man. In one of my upcoming stories, I shall include him living in Heavens, in his own World of Scat where people would go to listen to him and to acknowledge important lessons..." I murmur. "Ack, getting carried away, once again."

"It's okay." Saionji says with gentle smile and sits next to me. We' re hugging each other. Yeah, we're happy. We're, paraphrasing one butler, one hell of a couple.

"By the way, what about these Club thing?" I ask her when we finally separate.

"Oh, Shion said that they can go here. They should be soon... Oh, there they are!" Sekai says, while looking at the road. Truly, there are some people approaching from there. They're apparently teenagers as ourselves, though I can see one or two younger kids. Interestingly, there's only one guy in this group, surrounded by girls. Textbook harem, I would say... I would, but they're definitely friends, talking and laughing to each other. They're something that I do believe is called "Nakama".

Now that they're close enough, I can describe them slightly more properly. First of the girls that appears to lead the whole group, has long green hair tied in a ponytail(Resembling Ishida-san so, so much), exceptionally large chest and green eyes. She's wearing yellow shirt, jeans, white blouse tied to her waist and white sneakers. Her twin sister is much more girly-ish, with long straight her with yellow ribbon in it, cream sleeveless striped shirt, black mix of miniskirt and pencil skirt and white heels. Another girl, slightly shorter than mentioned two has short, bright brown hair and deep, blue eyes. She's wearing long white dress with purple ribbon tie, long boots and something that I can call a white beret. There's also two smaller girls: One with short blond hair and red-ish eyes, dressed in pink sleeveless shirt, jeans shorts and sneakers, second with long dark hair and purple eyes, dressed in green dress and white sandals. Finally, there's an only guy in this group, with short brown hair and eyes of an undetermined color, partially blue, partially violet. He's wearing black shirt with red, sleeveless vest on it, green shorts and blue shorts. Generally speaking, this vest looks ridiculously...

However, given that I wear my "badass" black leather long jacket and my trademark wide-brimmed hat, along with black garment, I shouldn't be the one to critize one's clothes.

"Hey, Mion!" Sekai shouts, waving her hand and smiling cheerfully. The group notices us and wave back. I pull out the earphones and turn off the MP-3 player. "Murder Fantasies" isn't exactly the best song for meeting new people.

We've been introduced to each other. Mion is the girl with a ponytail, so her twin sister must be Shion. Girl with beret is named Rena, blonde - Satoko and dark-haired - Rika. The guy introduced himself as Keiichi. Of course, me trying to be polite, some bows must ensue. Let's just say they were very surprised by this actions.

"Wow, there's no need to do things like that!" Mion said when I reffered to her as "Sonozaki-san". "I mean, I'm not older or something..."

"I just want to fulfill minimal rules of _savoir-vivre_." I explain, but actually it made me smile.

Now we're strolling through the village. Mion is constantly asking Sekai about "her boyfriend". Too bad that mentioned boyfriend is few meters further. Shion, on the other hand, seems to be more refined than her twin sister and I'm glad to see that. Rena and Keiichi, for a change, were asking me about various things such as nationality(It isn't hard to tell that I'm not Japanese), interests and so on. Both of them are actually quite likeable, though I think Keiichi's personality is more like my type. Rika and Satoko are a few steps before us. Well, at least they're not laughing at my trench coat... Thankfully, clouds managed to cover the sun, so there's more likely that I will not boil myself in the sun. Sorry, but badassness is before common sense.

"So, now you're here we can add you to our Club!" Mion's voice wakes me up from pondering. What club? Suddenly, I remind myself of Sekai's words. She was saying something about Games Club or whatever it is called.

"Oh, thanks, but..." I start, but Saionji interrupts me.

"We'll be glad to join." Yeah, here goes. I shrug my arms. If it's okay for her, I shall adapt to her actions.

"You know the rules, right?"

"Right..." I can tell she has no clue about mentioned rules and Mion's diabolical smile only makes me sure.

"Then... Race, people!" Suddenly, all of them accelerate and start to run. Wha...?

"H-Hey! Not fair!" Sekai shouts as she starts running along with the others. Intrestingly, Shion doesn't join them.

"Aren't you a part of this Club thing?" I ask.

"Only a honorary member." She responds with slight smile. "Thankfully, _Onee _isn't as cruel for me as for the others."

"Would you mind if I assist you? I don't feel like for running."

"And what about Sekai?"

"Come on, running in this?" I say jokingly, looking at my trench coat. "Besides, I'm pretty sure they're gonna talk a lot about "her boyfriend" and I wouldn't like to listen it." She smiles in answer.

"Okay then. Be warned, however, that the loser in so-called "punishment games" is... Well, punished, usually by doing or wearing something embarassing."

"I shall endure such thing."

"You know, with attitude like this, you'll give Kei-chan some time to rest." She says.

"You mean he used to lose everything?"

"From what _Onee_ told me, yes. Once he was forced to wear ballerina's outfit." Shion giggles softly. "She's already preparing "swan trunks" for him."

"Swan trunks?" I repeat bluntly.

"Yes, with false swan's head and neck attached to it."

"Good Alastor, that's surely ludicrous. She must like him a lot." I say sarcastically.

"Actually, she does like him." Wait, what? "She has a crush on him. Sadly, _Onee _is too shy and tomboyish to admit her feelings and Kei-chan apparently hasn't notice it... But keep it a secret, okay? She would give me a run for my money for it." She laughs gently. I wonder why such gorgeous girl is still a single. Attractive both physically and mentally, gentle and refined, almost like a princess... Oh well, world can be cruel and hard to understand sometimes.

"You know, Sekai claims to be a pretty good shipper." I answer with slight anxiety.

"Really? If that's true, maybe we can pair these two!" She seems very happy with such a cliffhanger. I, slightly less. "Our three should meet in order to discuss it. Hey, what do you think about meeting tomorrow? We can talk about it in my apartment in Okinomiya."

"Don't you live here, in Sonozaki estate?" I ask, surprised.

"It's hard to explain this..." She seems slightly sadder than before.

"I see, I won't touch this topic again."

"Thank you. Kasai can pick you up to Okinomiya."

"Excuse me, who?"

"Oh, my... Well, bodyguard." She seems embarassed by this fact.

"You've got a bodyguard." It's more like statement than question, but I'm too surprised to add question mark. She looks at me in order to see if I'm laughing or something. Nope, nothing.

"Yeah."

"Bodyguard... Okay, you're from the family that controls Hinamizawa, okay... But, seriously, bodyguard?"

"What can I say? He was assigned by my current Sonozaki family clan to keep an eye on me."

"So, I assume he will be wearing a black suit and shades?" She finally smiles.

"Perfect description, I'd say." We're both bursting out laughing.

"It's incredible how different you are from your sister." I say after a while. "So, the myth about two totally different twins's personalities is true."

"It seems so." I've noticed that we're in front of white building that appears to be some kind of clinic.

"Just to make sure, where this race headed?" I ask confused.

"Probably to Hinamizawa School. It's about one kilometre from here, going east, by this road." She responds, pointing at the horizon.

"One kilometre, you say... I think I'll pass." I say without enthusiasm. "May I ask you why are you heading to this place?"

"Oh, I'm visiting my boyfriend."

"I do believe you want me to stay here or you don't mind assisting you?"

"If you want, you can stay in corridor."

We enter the clinic. It's supsiociously empty here, with only one person on corridor besides us. She appears to be a nurse, assuming from her outfit. She has long blond eyes, but something in her face tells me that this is the woman who's hiding many mysteries...

"Oh, hello, Shion-san." She says, noticing us. "Is that a friend of yours?"

"He's a boyfriend of our cousin." Green-haired girl explains. I bow officially.

"Wala Casper, pleased to make your acquaintance..." I say, stopping with realization that I don't know nurse's name.

"Takano Miyo." Woman introduced herself. "May I ask, why are you with Shion-san instead of your girlfriend? Just curiosity." She smiles, but, man, this smile gives creeps.

"It's a long story. Let's just say I'm not used to running when someone tells me to." I say after a short while.

"I see. So you've been invited to Mion-san's Games Club?"

"I prefer phrase "Forced to join", but let's call it that way." I say, allowing myself to smile. Takano-san smiles too, but again, her smile is the last thing I would like to see in the dark.

"Oh, Shion-san, I'm afraid that Irie-sensei is absent." She says to my companion.

"It's okay, I know the route." She answers. "Could you please wait here for a moment? I'll be back soon." She asks me.

"Will do." I answer, taking a sit on chair nearby. She smiles and walks away, disappearing in one of the rooms. Suddenly, my cellphone rings. It's probably Sekai.

"Casper speaking. Oh, hi. I'm in the local clinic, don't worry. No, I'm okay, no one tried to kill me or something. You're overreacting, woman. Yeah. Okay. Oh, I do believe along with Shion we can make it to there. And one more thing. Whatnot Mion is preparing, I will not wear it, got it? You say she'll force me to do so? Tell her that I really want to see it. Yeah, okay. Love you too. Bye." I hang up. Sweet Alastor, Sonozaki Mion really is persistent. Suddenly, some familiar presence announces itself in my mind.

Stratoavis. The last person I would like to see now.

"Hope I doesn't disturb you?" He asks with slight smile.

"As usual, you do. Go on though, what's this time?" I respond without enthusiasm.

"You should know that here, in Hinamizawa, there's an interesting being..."

"If you talk about Syndrome, give up already. I don't want to get a headache." I respond with growl. He just smiles mockingly.

"I'm not talking about the parasite, you dummy. I'm talking about..." His eyes flash with strange sparkle. "God." Complete silence.

"What "God"?" I ask bluntly.

"God means God, is there something hard to understand?" My evil twin chuckles. "However, we're talking about local deity."

"You've made a contact with some supernatural being? You do realize how absurdal is this?"

"What can I say... Her name's simply Shrine God, or Oyashiro-sama. You can ask this Furude girl about more info."

"Why her?"

"Because she's the one that keeps contact with Shrine God. Stratoavis, over and out."

Interesting... Maybe these holidays here won't be so boring...


	2. Chapter 2: Ainoinbō hen

**Hello again, here you've got a second chapter of Crying Cicadas. Enjoy.**

* * *

><p>First day in Hinamizawa is over... But I think these two weeks are going to be more than interesting.<p>

For starters, if Stratoavis is to be believed, there's a God to be contacted here. God, like, true magical, supernatural being. Of course, I'm very sceptical about it, but we can give it a try. I need to remember to ask Rika once about it. Oyashiro-sama, or something among these lines... Nah, we shall see.

For now, however, I need to solve other problem, to be precise: Mion's punishments. She was waiting for me in the very entrance to the Sonozaki's estate with devilish grin and ballerina's outfit. Thankfully, Shion showed me how to get here.

"Evening, Sonozaki-san." I say with slight sarcasm in voice. One of her eyebrows twitches slightly. Jackpot, I hit this very well hidden weak spot of her. She, however, quickly composes herself and gives me a slightly unpleasant look. She apparently isn't used to hear her orders thwarted like nothing.

"Don't worry, you'll got your time to shine." She says venomously. "For now, Sekai must suffice."

"Yeah, of course, because I will wear it in front of my girlfriend."

"What if she ask you to do so?" Mion smiles slyly while I'm stunned by how true this can be. Considering that she and Sekai are cousins, maybe distant, but still cousins... No, come on, she won't hurt me that much... Right? "Besides, where have you been?"

"Oh, on walk with your sister." I respond. She looks at me suspiciously. "And I do believe she doesn't have such ridiculous ideas as you."

"I've got ridiculous ideas? That's you who have ridiculous attitude." She snarls back.

"Eh, it's hard to get along with you, isn't it?" I ask rhetorically, sighing. "Fine, if Sekai wishes to see me in this, I shall adapt." Green-haired girl smiles instantly. "Sorry if I offend you or something. I'm not used to fill orders." She seems slightly surprised by the fact that I actually apologize her, but she quickly mask it with smile.

"Thanks, it's nothing."

"I hope so..." Suddenly, a thought comes through my mind. "Sonoza... I mean, Mion-san, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, go on." She seems to forget about the punishment for me, although it can be only a play...

"When I was in local clinic today, I've heard an interesting... Um, information. I'm curious... Who exactly is Oyashiro-sama?" She doesn't seem moved or something. So no, there's nothing like fanatical worship of local deity.

"Oh, it's our local deity." Mion answers without hesitation.

"I see... Is there anybody here who could tell me more about it?"

"I think Rika is the most appropiate person when talking about Oyashiro-sama." Green-haired girl starts pondering. "I don't think, however, that she will be able to say much more. Sure, she's our shrine maiden, but myths about Oyashiro-sama are a mystery."

"I see. Neverthless, I think I'll be able to gain some extra information." I scratch my chin lightly. "Maybe it can help me with some of my stories."

"You write stories?" Mion shows some decent interest.

"Yeah, fantasy novels and such. I'm looking for some malevolent evil spirit that corrupts, destroys and desintegrates without any hesitation."

"Whoa, why so violent? Why can't it be some peaceful and energetic fairie or something?"

"Forgive me, I'm simply too deranged and wicked to create gods as good beings." I say jokingly and look into the sky. It's bright, lighted with thousands of stars. "I think we should go inside instead of simply standing here." Smile appears on her face.

"You're that fast to wear this tutu?" She says devilishly.

"I think we should team up, Mion-san." This statement apparently catches her off guard as she doesn't move at all, surprised.

"Ex-excuse me?" She finally asks, really confused.

"You know... I think that Sekai can feel offended by the fact that you molest her boyfriend. Also, from what I've heard, there's another guy that is a local loser in your Games Club."

"Ah, you're talking about Kei-chan? But what does...?"

"Let me finish. You see... We're both rather wicked souls. If we pull our forces together, we'll be unstoppable."

"So, your proposition is to leave my attempt of embarassing you in front of Sekai and focusing on Kei-chan alongside you?"

"Something like that..." Surprisingly, she smiles after a short while... And her smile is only a bad sign."

"Hehehehe... I'm in." She finally says with malicious grin. I would say it was way too easy to convince her to lay a vicious hurt on Keiichi. I need to warn this poor guy about Mion's escalation of wickedness.

No, seriously, Shion wasn't kidding with this crush?

* * *

><p>Okay, my plan for today: Warn Keiichi, then go with Sekai to Shion's place in order to discuss how to pair Mion with Keiichi, then... a little chatter with God.<p>

Unfortunately, the first point went straight to hell immediately after seeing him in tutu that was prepared for me. Mion looked very, very amused; as well as Satoko. Rena was... drooling and muttering something like "Omochikaeri", which was disturbing, to say at least. Only Rika was showing mild interest in Maebara's exposed legs, simply sitting in one place. As I expected, Sekai bursted out laughing after seeing that embarassed guy. I wouldn't say it was a good thing for me, as Keiichi apparently had a murderous intent in his eyes, closing to me and swinging his baseball bat wildly while screaming inappropiate statements.

"Oh, why I'm not surprised..." I muttered, preparing for counterattack. He was armed only with his baseball and in tutu, also angry, so kinda predictable.

Sweet Alastor, I won the encounter with chainsaw-wielding psycho! However...

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down, for the love of Ciel Phantomhive's eyepatch, calm down!" I said, slowly taking steps back. "Sekai, I think you should move outta his way, at least for a little while." She only nodded and quickly joined the girls, leaving me alone with crazed batman. Oh, the puns.

I blocked his first attack rather easily, as well as the second.

"There's no need to be so pissed off." I exclaim slowly, dodging another swings.

"No need, you say? Because of you, I'm in this stupid thing!" Keiichi growled in answer.

"Look... Well, you're partially right..." I finally grabbed his bat. "But, seriously, isn't it only a game or something?"

"Speak for yourself. You practically sold me to her!" Sure, he's strong, but lacks speed and skill. I grabbed the bat once again.

"Maybe after what I'll tell you you'll finally cool down."

"Sure, go on." He answered, still trying to get a hit on me. I made sure that Mion's far enough from us and took a deep breath. It's going to be one crazy slalom between them.

"Certain green-haired girl has crush on you." Bat stopped midair. I took a look at Keiichi's eyes. They were full of surprise and shock... Of course they were. This guy is completely, absolutely unaware of Mion's feelings. Partially, it's her own fault, since she's too shy to react properly.

"You're kidding me, aren't you?" He finally said.

"Nope... But please, it'll be better for us both if she didn't know that we know."

"Who... Who told you such thing?"

"Shion." I answered quickly. "Please, be reasonable and for our own sake, don't tell her that."

"F...Fine..." He finally responded, lowering his bat. "But this still doesn't expect why I AM in this tutu."

"As you probably know, Mion and Sekai are cousins. You wouldn't want to see your family member upset for whatever reason, would you?"

"Why would she be upset for such absurdal reason?"

"It'll be better for both of us if we'll never find out. Sorry for involving you in this mess." I said while lending him a hand. I didn't want to make new enemies. He hesitated for a moment, but finally responded with identical gesture.

"Fine, nothing happened..." He muttered after a short while. "But, please, next time..."

"Will do."

* * *

><p>After that, me and Sekai headed into the place destined by Shion. Her bodyguard was about to take us from the bus stop. He was said to have black sunglasses, black suit and rather large beard.<p>

"Did you know that Mion has a crush on Keiichi?" I asked my girlfriend when we were waiting on the bus stop.

"Yup, Shion had already informed me about it." She answered. "It'll be so lovely to see these two being with each other. They're fitting."

"I dunno, Keiichi seems completely oblivious. About Mion, she's one helluva tomboy. This can be... challenging."

"I LOVE challenges!" Sekai exclaimed enthusiastically, trembling from excitement. "But I do believe that with help of Shion we can be able to finally make them a couple!"

"Well, she's got a boyfriend, so it figures."

"Huh? What are you saying?" Saionji seems surprised by my statement. "She did have a boyfriend, but he transfered to another school one year ago."

"Now that's interesting. When I was assisting her in the walk, she clearly said that she want to visit her boyfriend that is said to recover from some illness in local clinic."

"Hmm... You know... It's strange. Are you sure you don't mishear her or something?"

"No, she was one hundred percent confident about her statement."

"Nah, we'll ask her when we'll got to her." After a short while of waiting, a black car appeared in front of us. One of its glasses lowered down, exposing a man identical to Shion's description. After introducing themselves to each other, we got into the car and drove to the Okinomiya, where one of the green-haired girls were said to live.

"Hi!" She greeted us cheerfully, letting us in. I could feel cold look on my back. Apparently this bodyguard was keeping his eye on us. Was he overreacting or was that much cautious...?

I gave a look after Shion's room. Big, full of light, full of energy.

"Take a seat on bed." She said, pointing at certainly big one. Like a princess, indeed. "Wala-san, you said that Sekai is able to pair Kei-chan and _Onee._"

"Indeed, I said so. It'll be better if you ask the shipper herself." I responded. Saionji giggled softly.

"I'm not an expert, but we'll do our best." She said lightly, but suddenly became serious. "Of course, we'll need your help in order to achieve anything."

"I see. What do you want to know?" I thought about the appropiate question for a while.

"How long do they know each other?" I finally ask Shion. She ponders for a short while...

"Oh, not long. Kei-chan moved here this year, at the beginning of the June."

"Hmm... So they know themselves for only a short period of time. This will make our task slightly harder..." Sekai murmured, frozen in thinking pose. "You say that Keiichi is totally oblivious about Mi-chan's feelings?"

"Correct."

"Resembles Katsura-san and Itou case, this time however with genderswap." I said, interested. "Anything more?"

"Maybe you've found out already, but _Onee_'s tomboy attitude is only a facade. She's... Well, she's still a girl after all."

Thank you, cpt. Obvious.

"I remember that one day she told me an interesting story. Their Club was here, in Okinomiya, playing games in our uncle's toy shop. If I recall, Kei-chan won a doll and, being a boy, he decided to give it to _Onee._" Shion smiled slightly. "I remember perfectly that she was so shocked that at first decided to give doll back to Rena. She, however, calmly said that she's okay with that..." Green-haired girl smiled gently. "_Onee_ later bursted into tears when talking with me about it. It was so sad to see her cry, but also she was exclaiming how happy she was... It was heart-wrenching."

"So, she's aware of the fact that she herself doesn't have enough confidence to confess to him?" I asked, mildly surprised.

"Kinda."

"This can be tricky..." I murmured, pondering. "Sonozaki-san, do you know something about some Club's meetings in few days time?"

"_Onee _mentioned that they're going to the Okinomiya's swimming pool tomorrow."

Wonderful, swimming pool. Being a creature that cannot swim, I was tore apart about it: To go or not to go? My... Em, moveset there will be severly limited. However...

"We'll need to observe for a while." Sekai finally decided. I look at her, slightly surprised. I wouldn't expect a tactic of patient waiting from her. She smiled slightly after seeing my face.

"Okay. I'll be on the swimming pool too, so we can easily catch on and sum up our gathered information." Shion added with pleased smile. "It's good to have you two on my side."

"We're here to help." I answered coldly yet politely, bowing slightly.

* * *

><p>Now, however, it's time to do something slightly more interesting than plotting how to pair Keiichi and Mion.<p>

Little chatter with deity called "Oyashiro-sama".

Stratoavis gave me an interesting information about this local god. If used correctly, Rika, who is said to be shrine maiden and, therefore, channel between Oyashiro-sama and us, mortals, should lose her cool and tell me everything that can interest me. I only need to play it wise... And maybe, maybe...

But what if he's simply pulling my leg?

Nah, let's give it a try.

I told Sekai that I need to leave Sonozaki's estate for a longer while, in order to take some fresh air or something among these lines. She did let me go without any trouble. Not wasting time, I head to the place where Rika is said to live. From what I've heard she and Satoko live on their own alone in the forest. The sun slowly sets to the twilight, painted bloody red. With the bicycle borrowed from Mion, it shouldn't be any problem of making my way to them before darkness. The problem will be with returning, since there's no lamp posts on the main road whatsoever.

After short walk through stairs, I finally manage to locate their house. It's relatively small and looks as if it was made from some rubbish. It's far from slums, but I would never attempt to live in something like that unless without other choice. I get off the bike and knock politely, waiting patiently for someone to show up. After a short while, tiny silhouette of Satoko shows in the threshold.

"Oh..." She seems surprised by the fact that I've visited them and probably for a good reason. "Hi. It's pretty late, you know?"

"I know, I know... But I've got an important business to talk about with Furude-san." I respond officially. "I do apologize if I've distracted you from doing something."

"No, no, everything's fine... But seriously, it's eight o'clock in the evening."

"I know, but there was many things to discuss and to do... Can I possibly trust you?" Her growing smile tells me that maybe I'll regret my next actions, but I do believe that we will need as many allies as possible."

"What do you mean?" She finally asks.

"May I go in or something? It feels slightly uneasy to tell such things in the open."

"Sure, go inside." I encounter Rika as well. She seems surprised as well as Satoko, but quickly masks it with her trademark "Nipah" smile.

"Welcome, Sir." She says. She has a manner of this incredibly polite speaking that is hard to understand even for my bows-abusing persona.

"Evening, Furude-san." I respond quietly, bowing slightly. "There are two things I would like to discuss with you, if you don't mind. One of them... In four eyes with Furude-san only."

"Oh, so you're into younger girls?" Satoko asks slyly, before laughing loudly. Shucks, she can be a mean brat if she want to.

"No, it's something about Oyashiro-sama." I respond flatly, ignoring her scurvy actions. I can tell that for some reason the shrine maiden gets slightly more nervous. "If it's possible, I would like to do it firstly."

"It shouldn't be a problem, Sir." Rika says, standing up. We go outside, accompanied by Satoko's mocking glares.

"So, what is the question about...?" She starts gleefully, but I interrupt her with this sentence that Stratoavis told me that it can work.

"Why a god likes cream puffs?" I ask flatly, watching her carefully. Stratoavis was damn right... She's shocked by this, one would think, totally absurdal question. There's no sweet Rika Furude right now, there's some other, strange girl with eyes cold as ice.

"How do you know?" She finally asks with more mature and, I would say, evil tone.

"A friend from the other side told me." I respond, allowing myself to smile slightly. "Listen, I won't say to anybody that you're contacting with Oyashiro-sama directly, because no one would actually believe me... I want, however, to speak with it for a short while."

"Why a mortal want to chat with a deity?"

"Curiosity." I answer, shrugging my arms and allowing Stratoavis to do the rest. Me and Rika stand for a while completely silent, watching each other. "So, may I ask how?"

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you such thing."

"Pity."

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go on."

"Who are you... What are you?" The second question catches me off guard, but I manage to counter it with innocent smile.

"Me? I'm just an artist."

"A being who can unmask gods cannot be an ordinary human."

"I apprieciate your compliment, but there's no secret about it..." I giggle slightly, my eyes flashing with this positive madness I've always had. "Artists are more or less insane... Being as such, we're able to do things that ordinary humans wouldn't be able to even think about." She doesn't seem pleased with this answer, but apparently doesn't have another arguments to bring into this discuss. "So, mighty Oyashiro-sama is a purple-haired girl with horns going "Hau hauu" every time she's scared?"

"More or less, but your general description is correct." Rika sighs. "There's no point hiding, Hanyuu. Unmask yourself." In the flash of an eye, mentioned girl with purple hair appears. She's apparently flustered by the fact that her magical cover has been busted by some "ordinary" human.

"Stratoavis, be so kind and come here." I say, clapping my hands. The presence of my evil twin appears next to me, along with his sarcastic smile and strange flash in the eyes. "Furude-san, you said that no ordinary human can unmask a god. You're partially true. While I'm only a bit eccentric, he's the reason why we're chatting right now. He's my alter ego, warped vision of what I always wanted to be."

"You're just like twins..." Hanyuu murmured, pondering about something.

"We ARE twins." We exclaim together, smiling maliciously. "We are Yin and Yang. We are fire and water. We are life and death. We complement each other, as being the polar opposites."

"Casper Wala." I say, bowing courteously.

"Casper Stratoavis." My evil twin adds, parodying his greeting.

"Pleased to meet you." We end again at the same time, both me and him with malicious grins. To my surprise, Rika grins as well.

"Is that so?" She asks quietly with some challenge in her voice. "Now that's quite interesting." Hanyuu, however, doesn't share her enthusiasm, looking at us nervously.

"Now, back to this second topic, I do believe we'll need your help."

"What exactly?"

"Oh, it's a longer story..."


End file.
